Atlanta Hawks Kevin Huerter: Despite Low Usage, Red Pepper is Killing It

A detailed examination of the first quarter of Kevin Huerter’s career as a member of the Atlanta Hawks.

For two years in a row, the Atlanta Hawks have been deft in their selections in the NBA Draft at the #19 overall spot. In fact, it seems to be a sweet spot for them.

First, the team nabs promising big man John Collins out of Wake Forest, who promptly roasted the competition in college and rode that momentum to a stunning rookie season, which should’ve seen him rewarded with a First Team All-Rookie berth.

This offseason, while the Atlanta Hawks’ machinations in the Top 5 of the draft nabbed almost all of the headlines – trading Luka Doncic down to the Mavericks for Trae Young – the team also nabbed a potential steal of the draft at 19th overall: One Kevin Huerter out of Maryland.

Though Ice Trae gets all of the headlines and much of the attention nationally (and locally), Huerter has slowly carved out a role for himself on the Hawks ever since being elevated to the starting lineup – an inspired move from Coach Lloyd Pierce.

Huerter has brought a lot to the table, and his interesting and multifaceted skill should be important to the Atlanta Hawks for the foreseeable.

Though his impact going forward will be of the utmost importance, let’s explore exactly what it is that Huerter (heretofore referred to as Red Pepper) provides to the Atlanta Hawks.

Shooting

The main reason that Atlanta Hawks General Manager Travis Schlenk drafted Kevin Huerter was because of the Maryland product’s much-ballyhooed three-point stroke. In two seasons at Maryland, Huerter was a 39.4 percent three-point shooter on 5.4 attempts per game. In his sophomore season that saw him play 34 minutes a night in 32 games, he shot a sterling 41.7 percent from deep.

While it took a while for Huerter’s outside shot to adjust to the speed and distance of the NBA, his deep tries have come around, and Red Pepper’s three-point prowess is almost up to his college levels.

Huerter is second on the Atlanta Hawks in three-point percentage with 38.8 percent, behind only Jeremy Lin’s scorching-hot 41.3 percent clip. Hilariously (in an apocalyptic way), Huerter has hit only 7 fewer triples (26) than his prolific point guard teammate Trae Young (33) – though it has taken Young (gulp) 71 more attempts to get there.

In terms of his fellow rookies, Huerter is 4th among all rookies in three-point makes (26) as well as three-point percentage (38.8 percent). However, Red Pepper is only 6th in three-point attempts among rookies at 67 – behind high-usage players like Young and Doncic or spot-up artists like Landry Shamet of the 76ers, Gary Clark of the Rockets or Mikal Bridges of the Suns.

One reason Huerter’s attempts are so low is because of his almost excessively low usage rate.

Low Usage

For a starting two guard in the NBA, Huerter – ahem, Red Pepper – does not touch the ball very much. Perhaps that’s by design so that Trae Young gets a baptism by fire to start his rookie year, but since this season is all about development for the Atlanta Hawks, it would seem fitting that Young and Huerter both would see their fair share of the ball.

While Huerter has been given a few token moments as the team’s primary ballhandler (such as notably bringing the first possession of the game up the court against the Warriors), for the most part, he has been deferring to Young, Kent Bazemore, DeAndre’ Bembry, Taurean Prince and others.

That shows in his comically low usage rate, which currently sits at 13.3 percent, ahead of only Two-Way Player Jaylen Adams, who has only played a total of 13 minutes in 4 games.

It’s hard to tell whether Huerter is simply naturally unselfish and an incredibly quick decision-maker (since the ball leaves his hands very quickly once he gets the ball), or whether he doesn’t quite feel comfortable as the Hawks’ lead ballhandler just yet.

I would lean towards the former, as Huerter seems like a terrific ballhandler in the limited action he has had the chance to showcase his handling and playmaking abilities – especially against the defending-champion Warriors, as he made two nifty bounce passes in traffic to great effect.

Passing

Speaking of passing, Red Pepper looks to be everything that the Atlanta Hawks could’ve hoped for in that capacity, just like his backcourt mate Trae Young. While Huerter has been unable to put up the gaudy assist numbers that Young has so far in his young career, again, most of that can be chalked up to his insanely low usage rate.

When Huerter has the ball, his 13.8 percent assist rate ranks as 5th on the team among qualified players. Digging even deeper into the numbers, Cleaning the Glass shows that Huerter’s assists per usage rate is .98 – an amazing number that puts Huerter in the 94th percentile of players at his position.

Huerter is clearly a good passer, and he is able to use his good height (6-foot-7) to see over the defense and survey where his teammates are, often hitting them with difficulty passes they were not expecting. His 1.96 assist-to-turnover ratio is highest among all rookies that have played at least 450 minutes, besting teammate Trae Young’s 1.87 and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s 1.56 for the Clippers.

Defense

Huerter has also been considerably underrated as a defender. Though he has made some mistakes, as all rookies do, he has also looked great at times as an on-ball, one-on-one defender. Huerter’s fluid athleticism allows him to move laterally with ease – moving his feet exceptionally well against quicker players.

Huerter’s length (6-foot-8 wingspan) and underrated leaping ability allows him to contest shots with ease against most players. When combined with his defensive instincts and ability to stay with speedy players out on the perimeter, you have the makings of a perimeter defense bulwark.

Red Pepper’s numbers per Cleaning the Glass back up this claim. When Huerter is on the floor, opposing teams are shooting far more from midrange (+4.9 percent) because Huerter’s length and speed bother perimeter ballhandlers. When those players go to those midrange shots with Huerter on the floor, opposing teams are shooting 9.5 percent worse than when he’s not. Great stuff from the rook.

Eye Test

In case you were wondering, this newfound nickname of Red Pepper has been so coined because Huerter (obviously) has red hair but also because he is a talented ballhandler who has produced some spicy highlight-reel plays for the Atlanta Hawks through the first 20 or so games of his career.

Watching Huerter play and learn has been an absolute joy, and it also helps that the Hawks have a +5-point differential when Huerter is on the floor according to Cleaning the Glass, which filters out garbage time. When not filtering on garbage time (of which Red Pepper has helped contribute to productive units), Huerter’s net rating for the Atlanta Hawks creeps up to 8.8, which is best on the team among qualified players.

Though he has not put up eye-popping stat lines for the most part, only scoring more than 10 points on six occasions, his plays always tend to be quite memorable, be they step-back threes or zany passes.

With continued playing time, Red Pepper should be able to carve out an important niche for the Atlanta Hawks going forward.

Statistics courtesy of Cleaning the Glass, NBA, Basketball Reference and Sports Reference, current as of 12/5/18.